2019 Winter March 17 Sunday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Winter_of_19

40 degrees this morning, humidity 62%.  

No walk yesterday, neighborhood alliance meeting Saturday morning.  

Relatively nice weather yesterday, sunny, not too windy, low 60’s.

Attended the Neighborhood Alliance meeting Saturday morning.  We or I have attended each one since we moved here.  We always seem to learn something!  

As always, I wonder where the younger people are, but somehow I think this is something that is simply a generational stage.  “Younger” people are too busy with other things, unless they are into running for elected office.  

While in other cities, I knew a lot of people because of my job, here I don’t, since it simply isn’t a part of my job.  

Now, I look at the meetings coming up and want to attend, but usually don’t because I am busy or have something else scheduled.

Something I hadn’t really noticed before is that many City meetings are held at 7:30 a.m. (Bicycle Committee) or 8:30 a.m (Economic Development) which is very “resident unfriendly” for people who work.  There are other meetings that are held at weird times that seem to discourage citizen participation.  

Maybe that is one reason younger people aren’t involved!  It is hard to work full time at a job and be able to attend some of the meetings.  Even some of the “big” meetings (City Council and Planning Commission) are held at 5:30 p.m., which is difficult if you work full time in another City.  (This city is about 100,000, but is still a “suburb” to a central city and if you work until 4:30 or 5, it would be almost impossible to attend the meetings without making special arrangements.)

I have a feeling it is planned that way, so the people who have always controlled it can continue to control it.  

Much as I like this city and community, there are a lot of “cliques” in it that seem to discourage participation in even minor committees and meetings.  

Perhaps it isn’t different than any community, I just notice it since I’m not involved with the City, but I hope I didn’t come across that way when I was City Manager!  

We did hear of a new “55+” housing complex being built here, which is “maintenance free” rental, which is exactly what we want.  Unfortunately the size of the housing units are someone like always, so small as to be “warehousing”, but there is one size that we could probably consider as not being two small.  It has a “study” which I consider absolutely essential, even after I “retire” from my present job.

March 17, St. Patricks Day.  I remember how I used to get so angry when someone tried to “pinch” me because I wasn’t wearing green!  That hasn’t happened for MANY years, but it still angers me when I think about being “pinched” because I wasn’t wearing a specific color.

One fo the joys of aging that I don’t have to worry about that anymore I guess!

That’s it fo now, Sunday, March 17, 2019.

#resist